Phil Spencer suggests that Xbox 360 emulation on Windows 10 could eventually happen

Could Microsoft blur the line between PC and Xbox even more?

When Microsoft announced the Xbox Play Anywhere initiative at E3 last year, which allows participating games to be played on both Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs at no extra cost when bought digitally, it closed the gap between console and home computer. But it looks as if we could see even more cross-platform features at some point in the future.

During a conversation on Twitter, Xbox boss Phil Spencer was asked if backwards compatible technology would ever come to Windows 10, letting PC owners play classic Xbox 360 titles on their computers. Rather than totally ruling out the prospect, Spencer wrote “never say never.”

@Micro_666@TobiasFoxtail Running BC reliably on all the different PC HW configs would be a lot more work than XB1, but never say never.

Don’t expect to see some of your favorite Xbox 360 exclusives on Windows anytime soon, though. Spencer noted that the number of different PC hardware configurations means building a 360 emulator in Windows wouldn’t be an easy task. Compared to implementing the Xbox One’s backward compatibility mode, the PC version would take “a lot more work”.

It was E3 2015 when Spencer first announced that Microsoft would soon introduce a feature allowing Xbox 360 games to be played on its latest console. There are now around 325 titles available in the Backward Compatibility catalog, while plenty of these are available in online stores like Steam and GoG, bringing it to the PC would be a move welcomed by many.

While not an emulator, Sony allows PC gamers to enjoy classic PS3 titles thanks to its PlayStation Now game streaming service, which was introduced to Windows back in August last year.

Right now, Microsoft is focused on improving the gaming experience for PC owners with the new Game Mode in the upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update. It will be compatible with standard Win32 based games, as well as Microsoft's new Universal Windows Platform games from the Windows Store, and should boost framerates by around 5 percent.